


Everything and Nothing

by jellybeanforest



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cap-Ironman Bingo, Cap_Ironman Tiny Reverse Bang, Captured Tony Stark, Found Family, Introspection, Isolation, M/M, Ransom, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26018197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jellybeanforest/pseuds/jellybeanforest
Summary: Captured by terrorists and held ransom in a cave, Tony Stark contemplates the last time he was in such a situation.For the 2020 Cap-IronMan Tiny Reverse Bang and Cap-IronMan Bingo 2020 Round 2 – Ransom. Based on a prompt (GOLD) by Lets_call_me_Lily.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 13
Kudos: 130
Collections: 2020 Cap/Iron Man Tiny Reverse Bang, Captain America/Iron Man Bingo





	Everything and Nothing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lets_call_me_Lily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lets_call_me_Lily/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Into the Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25924783) by [Lets_call_me_Lily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lets_call_me_Lily/pseuds/Lets_call_me_Lily). 



Tony doesn’t hear it often, the soft thrum of the arc reactor in his chest. He supposes the very first time he had to have heard it was years ago when he had been much too distracted by the fact that _car cables_ spilled out from an unexpected cavity in his body to recognize more subtle changes, like the electric buzz that accompanied him forever after. Yinsen had been with him then, the man who saved his life and possibly his very soul, the man who died so he could live. Tony thinks about him now, the two of them working in the sweltering heat, building the very first suit of many that would come to define his legacy.

“Got a family?” Tony had asked him during one of their breaks.

“Yes, and I will see them when I leave here,” Yinsen had replied enigmatically. It had been a half-truth, though Tony hadn’t noticed until it was too late. “And you, Stark?”

“No.”

“No?” He had seemed surprised. “So, you’re a man who has everything and nothing.”

Tony thinks–

At least this time, the cave is cool and wet, lacking the sand and dry heat of the Afghani desert.

At least this time, he isn't being forced to build weapons.

...At least this time, there’s no one to sacrifice themselves for Tony Stark.

For a while after he first returned home, after Yinsen’s death, after Afghanistan, the constant humming was all he could hear. It kept him up at night, amplifying the memories of his confinement – post-traumatic stress disorder they had called it – but after so long, the noise had faded into the background of a hectic life spread thin over too many priorities.

But now, the sound is nearly unbearable in the quiet of the cave his current captors have deigned to trap him within.

From a purely practical standpoint, the cave is not a bad choice to temporarily house a valuable captive. With the mountain at their back and the only exits the mouth of the cave ahead of him and a rat warren of dead ends behind, it’s easy to conceal and defend if you have home court advantage. His captors have also learned their lesson from the Ten Rings; they don’t give Tony any tools (real or makeshift), and silence him with a rifle butt to the mouth every time he asks for so much as a spoon. Normally, Tony could break himself out of such a situation, but with the dampeners blocking any signals, he can’t access the satellites to call forth his Iron Man armor.

Tony reckons it’s been three days.

He wonders if the Avengers have noticed yet. He wonders if Steve–

_Steve._

Steve and he had had a fight before Tony had stormed out of their hotel room in Rome, where they had been staying while Tony delivered his presentation at the international renewable energy conference. Tony had threatened to leave Italy altogether without Steve, but really, he had only meant to have a drink at a bar to cool off for a spell before returning for the inevitable make-up sex. He had only meant to be gone an hour, two perhaps.

And now here he was: kidnapped for an unknown purpose after having alienated the only person who may have figured out he was missing within the crucial first twenty-four hours.

…The hum in his chest is unbearable, serving as a droning soundtrack to an endless stream of what-if’s and personal admonishments.

What if he hadn’t announced his speaking engagements; would his captors have known where to find him?

What if he hadn’t told Steve he was leaving the country? Would Steve have figured out he was missing then? Would he have come for him?

What if they hadn’t fought?

What if…?

_Got a family?_ He had asked Yinsen all those years ago.

The echoes of his past coalesce around the thrum of his heart, bringing his present predicament into sharp relief.

_You’re a man who has everything and nothing._

…Five years on, and he’d never gotten around to building that family.

He feels the ground shake as his captors panic. Calling out orders for two to stay with the target, the rest rush towards the direction of the cave entrance.

Just then, Tony can feel something sparking along his peripheral nervous system, the sputtering pulse of his systems coming back online. Whatever had happened, it had knocked out the dampeners. He holds out his bound hands, willing the closest suit to his side.

“What is he doing?” One of his guards asks the other before smacking Tony on the side of his head and ordering him to “Stop that! Shut up and don’t move.”

But it’s too late; the summons has already been sent, his suit due to barrel in within the minute, if he can last that long. He lies still, cradling the side of this face, one hand still open-palmed and waiting.

He hears the clanking of various Iron Man pieces ricocheting off the cave walls, just as one guard trains his rifle at the door and the other aims at Tony himself. So Tony, grabs the barrel, ducking to the side as it goes off, then sweeps his assailant’s feet out from other him. Before the other can react, the gauntlet has already opened and reformed itself over Tony’s right arm, allowing him to block the shot and volley one of his own, launching the second guard into the opposite wall while the first holds up his hands in surrender. The man backs up until he clears the corner, heading deeper into the caves as the rest of the armor reforms around Tony.

When the faceplate finally snaps into place, Tony rises and heads out towards the entrance. He passes discarded satchels and half-eaten meals, the midday light growing brighter as he rounds the final curve. He can hear them now. Clint shouting at Nat, Hulk’s roar, the thunder crackling in the distance…

The reverb of a shield he knows so well.

He steps into the light, only to be pulled behind a solid wall of muscle, the shield held in front, gunfire ricocheting off the face of it as Steve holds him tight, holds him close.

“I’ve got him!” he reports to the others through the comm link before turning to Iron Man, his voice low and intimate. “Tony…Tony, are you okay?”

_Got a family, Mr. Stark?_

“Yes.”


End file.
